Music = intelligence? You don't say

I've heard about this "study" before but I've only seen the actual data once or twice...the only reason I'm taking time out of my napping schedule to do this and blast DMX is because the Telegraph is reporting on it?

Talkin bout some dumb shit, ain't that some shit.

You may have heard of Music That Makes You Dumb. Like...a couple of years ago. It turns out the Telegraph just asked somebody (I consistently & constantly advocate asking your friends about what's up) and the results are in: listening to rap, rock & pop signal a dumb person where as listening to classical music and old standards and high end indie & rock signal a smart person. Like I.

Now, if you're like me you'll look at this chart upside down one time, think about it for five minutes, conclude that's bullshit and be on your way. This article makes me irate for a few reasons, some of those being:

-musical genres that overlap
-the genres themselves
-use of goddamn SAT scores
-what about those of us that can stand more than certain genres?

I'm not really going to go out of my way to disprove this little chart. All this list really proves, to me, is that some folks that happen to listen to certain music may be deemed dumb or unable to do well on the SAT. You may listen to Lil Wayne and fail the math portion but I guarantee you Lil Wayne could run you circles on standardized testing. That makes...little sense? Also I guess it's good for people to sit and feel smug that they listen to high end, "intelligent" bands therefore that makes them smart folks. Ehhh.

But I have always wondered, not in terms of smart vs not smart, how much of what we listen to has to do with us. We listen to certain music because we like it and more often than not because it means something to us. It moves us in a way, but does it really signify how intelligent we are or how we live? I listen to Bob Dylan, DMX, and Bach--what does that say about me other than my tastes are pretty diverse and eclectic?

Also, I hate the SAT & ACT. Hate. Absolutely. I killed the ACT mind you, I still hated it about as much as I hate letter grading systems.

And now you can go back to whatever it was you were doing.